LAPD officer pleads no contest after alleged distribution of intimate images

LA responds to ex-wife’s nude-photos lawsuit

A former Los Angeles Police Department Gang and Narcotics Division officer accused of sharing naked pictures of his wife to his fellow officers was forced to surrender his certification as a police officer as part of a plea deal, according to the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office.

LAPD Officer Brady Lamas pleaded no contest to one count of Penal Code section 647(j)(4), distributing a private image to cause emotional distress, in a Feb. 28 filing at the courthouse.

In addition to a voluntarily surrender of his Peace Officer Standards and Training certification, which means he can no longer be a police officer, Lamas was sentenced to a year of probation. The records indicate five identical other charges were dismissed as a result.

He also was ordered to attend a program for sexual-compulsion addiction, pay a $220 fine and complete 30 days of community service.

The DA’S Office announced Brady Lamas’ arrest in a Dec. 15, 2022, news release, which stated between December 2021 and January 2022, “Lamas is accused of sending intimate photos to others, including fellow officers. The complaint alleges he should have known that distributing the image would cause the other person emotional distress.”

The LAPD did not immediately respond to requests confirming Lamas’ employment, but confirmed after his December court date he was still assigned to the agency’s detail that investigates drugs and gangs.

Lamas’ now ex-wife, also an LAPD officer, was planning to leave a surprise video message with their child on his phone when she found a disturbing chat still open, according to court filings.

She found the images Jan. 30, 2022. Court records indicated she filed for divorce five days later. Both lived in Valencia at the time.

She learned her husband “had been passing around sexually explicit photographs and sexually explicit videos” to other officers for more than a year.

The sharing, which was done without the victim’s

knowledge or consent, also lined up with a pattern of harassment she allegedly received from her coworkers over the same span, according to claims in the victim’s retaliation suit against the city of Los Angeles.

The lawsuit also claims that recommendations made to move two officers specifically who harassed her were ignored, which resulted in her harassment continuing throughout 2022 and into 2023 with regular encounters.

The victim’s suit lists four causes of action against the city of Los Angeles, including sexual harassment, retaliation and failure to take reasonable steps to prevent such behavior.

The plaintiff’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment Monday.

Attorneys for the city of Los Angeles filed a response Feb. 14 denying the allegations on 25 grounds, including: the cause of action is frivolous; the statute of limitations had been exceeded; and the claims for relief are barred “by plaintiff’s unclean hands,” among other grounds.

A case-management hearing in the lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles by Brady Lamas’ victim is set for June.